PERILOUS WATERS: EARLY MARITIME TRADE ALONG THE WESTERN COAST OF THE BLACK SEA (FIFTH MILLENNIUM BC)

A heavy accumulation of exotica and valuables, such as gold, copper, carnelian and Mediterranean shells, distinguishes the Black Sea littoral from other parts of the east Balkans in the fifth millennium BC. 1 Recent discoveries shed new light on the trading connections of the coastal communities and indicate that maritime activity was germane to the origin of their extraordinary wealth. This article investigates the involvement of the coastal inhabitants with the sea. It addresses the ecological conditions and the technical parameters of prehistoric seafaring on the west coast of the Black Sea, considers the remains of marine species in the faunal record as an indication of maritime experience, and examines the artefactual record for signs of movement of goods and people between the coastal communities. The combination of these separate lines of evidence points to a maritime trading route joining the resource‐poor north with the resource‐rich south of the littoral in the Chalcolithic period. Moreover, it implies that sea‐borne trade not only enabled the accumulation of material wealth, but also was pivotal for social change.     

Historical context and chronology of Bronze Age land enclosure on Dartmoor,UK

The upland of Dartmoor, southwest England, is one of the flagship prehistoric landscapes within Britain owing to the excellent survival of extensive prehistoric coaxial field systems. Archaeological surveys and rescue excavations during the 1970s and 1980s did much to further the understanding of this landscape; however, much remains to be explored, in particular the chronology of enclosure, the nature of the pre-enclosure landscape and the relationship between Bronze Age communities and their environment. Reconsideration of this landscape is important, given the place it holds in our understanding of subdivision of the landscape across northwest Europe during prehistory. This paper presents new palaeoecological data recovered as part of an integrated archaeological and palaeoecological project on northeast Dartmoor. The sequences detailed here include the first dated Neolithic period palaeoenvironmental data from within the prehistoric enclosed land on the moor, providing a longer-term context for enclosure. Neolithic groups are implicated in the first establishment of heathland in the study area at around 3630–3370 cal BC. During the early Bronze Age, reestablishment of hazel scrub in the study area implies reduced use of the upland, although it is not clear whether this is local or indicative of the wider landscape. A combination of pollen and fungal spore data indicates a substantial shift to species-rich grassland with grazing animals at c.1480 cal BC in a phase that lasted 400 years. The later Bronze Age and early Iron Age are characterised by low intensity use of the upland. These data provide new chronological data for land cover change on Dartmoor and whilst they broadly confirm existing models of upland land use in later prehistory, their proximity to the standing archaeology affords a more nuanced interpretation of local change.     

Land Tenure, Archaeology, and the Ancestral Pueblo Social Landscape

Archaeology relies upon evidence of past human modification of the natural landscape in order to infer past human social dynamics on the site, local, and regional levels. Given the inferential linkages between past landscape use and social relationships, archaeology can benefit from an approach that more explicitly delineates relationships between systems of land use and land tenure, the social means through which people define and assert land use rights. This research outlines a set of methods for modeling prehistoric land tenure systems and developing a middle range theory of land tenure relationships that may assist archaeologists in their investigations of prehistoric resource access systems. Land tenure systems are complex risk-buffering strategies that are conditioned by the labor invested in food production, the size of groups holding direct access to productive lands and resources, and the temporal duration of land access rights. The role of these variables is supported by cross-cultural data from a worldwide sample of food-producing societies. The land tenure model is applied to data from the prehistoric Southwest to help explain local and regional changes in food production, settlement size, and community organization in southwest Colorado between 900 and 1300 A.D.     

APPROACHING THE LANDSCAPE DIMENSION OF THE MEGALITHIC PHENOMENON IN SOUTHERN SPAIN

Although the megalithic phenomenon in southern Iberia has received attention since the mid‐nineteenth century, there has been very little attention paid to the role that megalithic structures played in the organization of prehistoric landscapes. Just as in other areas of Europe, however, southern Iberian megalithic structures must have played complex roles in the social organization of landscapes that go far beyond their use as funerary containers. Using examples from our work in southern Iberia, we employ GIS‐based spatial analysis to explore for the first time various aspects of the landscape dimension of these monuments. We discuss three case‐studies for which fresh field data have been recently made available. In the first (Almadén de la Plata) we find patterns of association between medieval transhumance routes and megaliths, and we use cost‐surface modelling to suggest that medieval routes may reflect earlier, prehistoric patterns of movement which in turn suggest that megalithic structures functioned in this area as waypoints within an emerging mobility system for people and livestock. In the second case (Aroche) we show correlations between the locations of megaliths and theoretical territories defined by isochrones and contrast this pattern with the distribution of non‐megalithic funerary sites of the Early Bronze Age, concluding that the spatial distribution of megaliths in this region may relate to their role as landmarks. Lastly we describe a far more specific relationship which we have encountered in the Antequera region, where we believe we have identified a relationship between the orientation of the megalithic structure of Menga, a prominent natural feature and several newly discovered prehistoric sites. Together, these three examples suggest that the current focus on typology, chronology and contents in the study of Iberian megaliths needs to be matched with efforts to identify and interpret the often highly complex structure of the prehistoric landscapes of which they form an integral part.     

PERCEPTIONS OF AND RESPONSES TO THE HOLOCENE FLOODING OF THE NORTH SEA LOWLANDS

This paper explores how the drastic landscape changes that took place in the North Sea basin during the Holocene affected the lives of those dwelling in that area. Previous contributions to the discussion of the Holocene inundation of the North Sea have tended to concentrate on the timings. This paper discusses the ways people could have perceived and responded to these events, emphasizing that climate change should not be viewed apart from social factors. It is also argued that sea-level rise was not something externally imposed on communities but an integral part of their world.     

The Origins and Ethics of Maritime Archaeology – Part I

Abstract

For archaeologists, the principal value of prehistoric figurines is that they offer a means – however limited – into the cultures and lives of prehistoric peoples. There is a long tradition of archaeologists assuming that the figurines they unearth had a religious significance for the people who created them (since anthropomorphic figurines have a religious use in many cultures with which we are familiar). However, just as archaeologists began questioning their attribution of divine status to prehistoric figurines in the 1960s, practitioners of neopagan and goddess spiritualities – particularly those in the feminist spirituality movement – were adopting it. Moreover, in addition to describing prehistoric figurines as images of a Great Goddess who dominated prehistoric religious life, these contemporary feminist neopagans use reproductions of prehistoric figurines to inspire and enact their own spirituality. Feminist neopagan appropriation of prehistoric figurines has been problematic for many archaeologists, who quarrel – legitimately – with the conclusions feminist neopagans make about prehistory based on these artefacts. Yet, as this article argues, the contemporary religious use of prehistoric figurines should not be a matter for archaeologists to decide.     

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND HUMAN SPACE IN NORTH‐EASTERN IBERIA DURING THE THIRD CENTURY BC

By using GIS (Geographical Information System) visibility analysis, the visual surveillance of, and ways in which people engaged and experienced, an Iberian landscape north of Barcelona during the third century BC are explored. The study of visual surveillance from the hillforts that dominated the area is understood as a means to address issues of social structure and hierarchy. How Iberian people might have viewed and rationalized their world, which is an issue that has so far not been addressed within the theoretical approaches that currently characterize this area of Mediterranean archaeology, is explored here for the first time. Emphasis is placed on people's sense of place and on hillforts' prominence. Visibility analysis indicates a highly structured society, where each hillfort might have primarily controlled given zones of the landscape and might have informed others about events taking place there through an integrated visibility network. Whilst hillforts appear to have been sited according to the view that they offered, they do not seem to have been intended to maximize their own visual impact. Social and experiential approaches compellingly coincide to suggest a subdivision of this society between mountain and coastal communities in both practical and perceptual terms.     

由“玉飞凤”看古代先民的审美意识

本文依据无锡鸿山越国贵族墓出土的"玉飞凤",简述凤作为中华民族的图腾之一,由远古发展到春秋战国时代的基本历程。并以凤图腾的发展演变过程为例,探讨古代先民审美意识的主要内涵和形成、发展进程。     

To see or to be seen… is that the question? An evaluation of palaeolithic sites’ visual presence and their role in social organization

Visibility is one of the most common features considered when analyzing site location; visual control of a territory is usually considered to be a desirable characteristic for a prehistoric settlement. However, the role that visibility could have played in the perception of sites, as a significant element of palaeolithic landscapes, has been rarely evaluated. Sites can act not only as settlements but as places for population aggregations, social interactions and symbolic activities; in this context, the relevance presence of a site within the landscape could have been an influencing factor in site location preferences. This paper focuses on the visual presence of a set of sites from Late palaeolithic Cantabria (Northern Iberian Peninsula), and evaluates how the way they were perceived could have been related to their role in the social organization of foraging communities.     

The Environmental Approach to Prehistoric Studies: Concepts and Theories

This article examines the main approaches to prehistoric environmental studies. The history of theories and concepts used in contemporary prehistory, archaeology, cultural and social anthropology, ecology, sociology, psychology, and demography is discussed. The author concludes with a plea for the concept of “living space” as a way to address certain problems in interdisciplinary studies of prehistoric societies.     

Submerged Mesolithic Landscape Investigation,Eleven Ballyboes,Republic of Ireland

This paper reports on the first systematic attempt to conduct archaeological survey and excavation for submerged prehistory on the island of Ireland. Fieldwork was conducted in two small bays where Early Mesolithic flint artefacts washed ashore hinted at the presence of a submerged assemblage. Methods employed include non‐intrusive survey, hand coring and excavation. Together, these allowed identification of the artefact source, albeit reworked, in one bay and an early Holocene peat in the other. Though the subtidal assemblage is reworked and relatively small, it is significant in an Irish context and more widely illustrates the potential preservation of prehistoric sites and palaeo‐landscapes in high‐energy settings.     

OFFSHORE FINDS FROM THE BRONZE AGE IN NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE: THE SHIPWRECK SCENARIO REVISITED

Summary.   This article challenges received thinking relating to the interpretation of Bronze Age finds from the seabed in the waters of north-western Europe, especially the North Sea and Channel area. Metal objects recovered from the sea are traditionally presumed to be the result of shipwrecks. As such, their interpretation as casual, if unfortunate loss is unquestioned. However, abandoning the shipwreck scenario as a remnant of the 'sacred vs profane' heuristic, it is suggested that offshore finds could provide insight into deliberate Bronze Age maritime practice, rather than misadventure. Certain patterning in the data of offshore finds, including affinities with hoards on terra firma , urges another interpretive framework – that of considering the sea as a place for deposition. This appeared to be the case particularly in regions which experienced an intensity of maritime interaction, such as the Channel area during the later Bronze Age. From this it is hypothesized that rather than being considered outside the Bronze Age social realm, the sea, especially in the MBA to earlier LBA in the Channel area, was incorporated into Bronze Age cosmology in similar ways to other zones in the landscape.     

Prehistoric Bird Watching in Southern Iberia? The Rock Art of Tajo de las Figuras Reconsidered

ABSTRACT

This paper studies the relationship between humans and birds in the recent prehistory of the Southern Iberian Peninsula. With its high number of bird, mammal, and anthropomorphic paintings, a small rock shelter –Tajo de las Figuras– provides an excellent case study to address this topic. The cave is situated in an ecosystem that, as we will argue, favoured human-bird interactions and enabled prehistoric groups to engage with a diverse and rich bird community at particular times of the year. Even though the recorded depictions can generally be integrated into the wider ‘Schematic’ style regime characterising the recent prehistory of the region, they exhibit some outstanding features including a highly distinct naturalism. This naturalism enables us to identify the represented birds, not only at the family but also at the species level. Our contribution describes these pictorial data and contextualises them with the ecology, archaeology, and archaeozoology of the area. We intend to show that the singularity of the image-corpus registered at Tajo de las Figuras mirrors the unique conditions of human-bird interactions at the time. We suggest that the significance of the images derives from the special location of the cave in the wider landscape encouraging early practices of bird watching.     

Molluscan foraging efficiency and patterns of mobility amongst foraging agriculturalists: a case study from northern New Zealand

A New Zealand example illustrates the potential of foraging efficiency (FE) measures to inform not only on human-prey dynamics, but also to help identify situations where mobility is constrained or stimulated. Marked declines in Māori molluscan FE, coupled with increased shellfish usage, are identified over a ca. 450-year period at the coastal locality of Harataonga Beach, New Zealand. The potential effects of climate change are considered using newly available southwest Pacific multi-proxy records and temperature sensitive species, but correlations are lacking. The molluscan results signal possible restrictions on logistic and/or residential mobility in late prehistory, while evidence from the broader cultural landscape points to increasing agricultural investments and marked social competition. The Ideal Free Distribution model (IFD) is used to consider regional-scale interactions between foraging efficiency, agricultural developments, and competition, and their effects on mobility. Geographic and temporal variation in the patterning and causes of population movements is highlighted through this model, particularly differences between large game foragers in the south and populations with mixed economies in the north. In late prehistory, many northern areas including Harataonga apparently experienced reductions in the geographic scale of population movements, coupled with intensified intra-territorial mobility. The latter was an outcome of labour being widely dispatched across tribal territories, quasi-specialisation in subsistence tasks, and pooling and exchange of resources through a variety of social mechanisms which often involved population movements.     

Mitochondrial DNA from 3000-year old chickens at the Teouma site,Vanuatu

Chickens were part of the Lapita cultural complex, transported into and through the Pacific by prehistoric colonists; as such they can be used as a proxy for tracking prehistoric migration and interaction. The Lapita site of Teouma in Vanuatu is well known for the recovery of complete dentate stamped pots and a cemetery containing the largest collection of Lapita period skeletons ever found. Chicken bones recovered from these excavations provide the first ancient DNA sequences from any commensal organism directly associated with a Lapita context. The ancient mtDNA sequences obtained from two Teouma chicken bones are compared with previously published archaeologically derived ancient DNA sequences to extend our understanding of the spread of chickens in Pacific prehistory. The results also show that the haplogroup E signature was present in very early populations of chickens transported into Remote Oceania. This study also adds to the suite of available data relating to isotopic signatures for commensal animals during the early settlement of Vanuatu and may reveal a different diet for Teouma chickens than those from other early prehistoric assemblages in the Pacific.     

An archaeological signature of multi-level social systems: The case of the Irish Bronze Age

Recent research suggests that contemporary human social groups are structured according to principles of fission and fusion that are also observed in some of our primate relatives, raising the possibility that such social systems have been a feature of hominin society throughout prehistory. The current paper examines the possibility of identifying archaeological signatures of multi-level social structures through the examination of site size distributions. Data on the sizes of Irish Bronze Age stone circles and predictions for the size of aggregations they could accommodate are compared with simulations parameterized using data on modern human groups. The results suggest that the presence of hierarchically inclusive, multi-level social structures provides a better explanation for the data than more traditional archaeological accounts based on the rank-size rule and related inferences concerning the emergence of political elites.     

Building Mounds. Longhouses,Coastal Mounds and Cultural Connections: Norway and the Northern Isles,c ad 800–1200

Abstract

WHY WERE important Viking longhouses built on large mounds of sand and then repeatedly rebuilt in precisely the same apparently challenging location? Generations of Viking–late Norse people did so, on sandy bays along the coasts of the Northern Isles of the United Kingdom. These prominent, ‘layered-up’ longhouse complexes were landscape statements. They reflected, in their location and the detail of their construction and use, the social attitudes and arrangements of those who lived in and visited them. The settlements played a pivotal role in power relationships and in the organisation of the local economy. This article explores the meaning of these focal settlement mounds through landscape archaeology; investigates building practices, stratigraphic detail and place-name associations; looks at their cultural roots in Scandinavia; and considers the role they played in the development of local social and political structures in Orkney.     

A Multi‐disciplinary Approach to the Archaeological Investigation of a Bedrock‐Dominated Shallow‐Marine Landscape: an example from the Bay of Firth,Orkney, UK

Investigation of shallow‐marine environments for submerged prehistoric archaeology can be hampered in many localities by extensive bedrock exposure and thus limited preservation potential. Using the concept of ‘seamless archaeology’ where land‐based archaeology is integrated across the intertidal zone through to the offshore, a multi‐disciplinary approach is essential. This approach taken in the Bay of Firth, Orkney uses geophysics, historical archive and ethno‐archaeology, coastal geomorphology, palaeo‐environmental analyses and sea‐level science, and allows a clearer understanding of the landscape in which prehistoric settlers lived. While acknowledging the limitations of the preserved environment, we are successful in identifying areas of archaeological potential on the sea‐bed for both upstanding structural elements as well as sediment preservation that contains evidence for human occupation. This has wider implications beyond Orkney's World Heritage sites to provide a blueprint for similar studies elsewhere in the coastal zone. © 2012 The Authors     

Identity and Material Culture in the Later Prehistory of Central Europe

Examination of the archaeological evidence for the expression of identity in later European prehistory provides a new and promising approach to understanding change in this period. New views of the role of material culture in the communication of meanings, of the nature of identity, and of agency in the past provide a useful framework for approaching the evidence. Analysis of patterns of sameness and difference in style and decoration of manufactured objects indicates how people used their material culture to structure and to communicate their identities—on the level of the individual, of groups such as families and residential communities, and of larger entities commonly referred to as ethnic groups. This approach offers insights that complement social and economic models of change in later prehistory.